Thoughts on A Dance with Dragons

[voetballeeuw]

I finished the book yesterday, and enjoyed it. What did you think about it? I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on the endings. Spoilers!

Do you think Jon Snow is alive? If he is, what will he do?

Is Brienne taking Jaime back to Lady Stoneheart?

Also, I guess I didn't catch it, but how does Arya kill the "ship insurer?"

 

[Hawgh]

Friggin' loved it. I particularly like that Daenerys continues to be the only one who can maintain even the tiniest semblance of success without someone shanking her. Even if she's really trying to screw herself over in this book.

I really, really hope that John Snow is alive. Although this feverish hope is entirely hinged on GRR Martin's usual friendly habit of adding a "and then he croaked"-like sentence when someone really does bite the dust.

Really not sure on how Arya offed that guy either. My theories range from "poisoned coin that only kills people who've recently eaten soup" to "stabbed him later".

I also liked that Barristan finally demonstrated that he's got some good stuff in the evisceration department. Was starting to worry that there was bluster in the old guy.

My greatest complaint is that the book is not able to somehow transport me instantaneously through the years until the release of the next one.

 

[voetballeeuw]

Friggin' loved it. I particularly like that Daenerys continues to be the only one who can maintain even the tiniest semblance of success without someone shanking her. Even if she's really trying to screw herself over in this book.

I really, really hope that John Snow is alive. Although this feverish hope is entirely hinged on GRR Martin's usual friendly habit of adding a "and then he croaked"-like sentence when someone really does bite the dust.

Really not sure on how Arya offed that guy either. My theories range from "poisoned coin that only kills people who've recently eaten soup" to "stabbed him later".

I also liked that Barristan finally demonstrated that he's got some good stuff in the evisceration department. Was starting to worry that there was bluster in the old guy.

My greatest complaint is that the book is not able to somehow transport me instantaneously through the years until the release of the next one.

I'm worried about Barristan all the same though, characters with honor tend not to last long in the world. I'm wondering how Daenarys will react to Victarion when he shows up. I can't assume she'll take kindly to a Viking, asking for her hand.

How do you think Dorne will take Quentyn's death? I think if the Prince wishes to pursue the alliance, he'll try and marry his daughter (Arianne?) to Aegon (Is that his name? The other Targaeryen)

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Plugging my thread i started yesterday, first: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.301354-My-feet-hurt-after-that-dance-ADwD-Spoilers#12017863

Now, OT: Pretty sure Jon's alive, or at least will be brought back as a R'hllor zombie. Other major characters have been killed off, yes, but it's always served a purpose. Jon's death doesn't seem to serve any purpose, and in fact seems counter-productive to the whole narrative.

Brienne is definitely leading Jaime into a trap... assuming she's not dead already. We still don't know that her shouted word actually saved her, especially considering how psychotic Catelyn/Stoneheart is.

It took me a lot of thinking to figure out how Arya pulled off that hit, too, but i believe the key is the fact that she noted the insurer always bit the coins when he took them (standard practice to be sure they're not fake). So... i'd guess the coin was coated with an ingested poison.

I loved the book, but seriously the cliffhangers in this one are ridiculous--by far the worst cliffhangers in the series. None of the battles that seemed to be imminent from the beginning of this book were resolved by the end (most notably Winterfell and Meereen). And of course the status of Jon's life or death...

 

[voetballeeuw]

Plugging my thread i started yesterday, first: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.301354-My-feet-hurt-after-that-dance-ADwD-Spoilers#12017863

Dammit. I used the forum search option, but couldn't find anything except threads about the release date being finalized. Apologies.

Great point about the coin. About Jon though, he says that he's going to march south with the wildlings, and get who he believes to be his sister back. Correct? This means that he's breaking his oath, and forsaking his vows. Doesn't this mean he's a traitor, and should be sentenced to death?

The worse thing is that we'll have to wait a few years to have our questions answered.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Dammit. I used the forum search option, but couldn't find anything except threads about the release date being finalized. Apologies.

Great point about the coin. About Jon though, he says that he's going to march south with the wildlings, and get who he believes to be his sister back. Correct? This means that he's breaking his oath, and forsaking his vows. Doesn't this mean he's a traitor, and should be sentenced to death?

The worse thing is that we'll have to wait a few years to have our questions answered.

No worries. I would guess that mine wasn't the first, either, and i, too, used the search function. And i really don't care which thread gets used, so long as we have a nice place to discuss our thoughts on this while i wait for my RL social circle to catch up to me...

As far as Jon's oath goes... my personal feeling was that since Ramsay basically threatened the entire Night's Watch, Jon's decision to confront him was not violating their vow of neutrality. That's just my take on it, however. Also, he wasn't going to get his sister back, as that was why Ramsay wrote the letter: Ramsay wants Jeyne/Arya back and thought that Jon had her.

Oh, and for Victarion and Dany, we can already be pretty sure from her vision in the House of the Undying that she will wed Victarion. He is her "one to dread". She may not necessarily like him, but she'll almost certainly hook up with him in some fashion. Actually... he's one of the "three loves" so even if she doesn't marry him, she'll love him somehow.